Is a "fixie" the new mountain bike?

[bobcat]

I'm sorry I just don't get it. They just seem to be like the emperor's new clothes! Gears can make a really tough ride a pleasure, ease strain on the knees, why are people paying top dollar for a lesser bike?

 

[gaz]

There is a difference between a fixed gear bike, and a fixie..
The fixie is for the hipster.

The fixed gear bike is for the purest, someone that wants to connect with the bike, a track cyclist, someone looking for simplicity.

The whole 'fixie' stuff is hipsters jumping on the bandwagon of messengers looking 'cool'. and they just had to give it their own 'word'

 

[Salad Dodger]

So, basically, it's a fashion statement.....

 

[cyberknight]

Fixed gear bikes can aid in getting your pedaling technique right ,assuming you get your gear choice right you learn how to power hills and spin for speed.

 

[srw]

Fixed gear bikes can aid in getting your pedaling technique right ,assuming you get your gear choice right you learn how to power hills and spin for speed.

Pedalling technique: turn the legs around. Really, how difficult can it be?

 

[Boris Bajic]

They are enormous fun. That cannot be a bad thing.

They are also helpful with pedalling technique.

I built mine for fun, but my riding improved at the grand old age of 40+.

A year or so after putting it together, I found I was regularly riding at 110 rpm, something I'd never done before.

Mine is made of an old 531 steel frame and odd bits and bobs. I do not understand the desire to buy a new one, but it takes all sorts.

Up to a point, I think they are surfing on a fashion wave, as early MTBs did in 1990-ish.

That need not be a bad thing.

The only reason to get one is because you want one. If my garage were on fire, the fixed-wheel fixie fixopholous might be the first thing I'd rescue.

It might also be my Pace HT MTB or my lovely Italian alloy road bike.... Blimey... I might end up getting quite hot.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

They are a fashion thing but so what?

I had one years back that I made when I had a totally seized up single speed freewheel in my spares bin so decided to use it and an old frame and parts. My commute was flat, it was okay.

My commute now is NOT flat and I often carry fairly heavy loads so a single speed with or without freewheel is wholly unsuitable, so I have no desire to have one again.

 

[Ashtrayhead]

They can also be lighter than geared bikes and don't have so many cables and bits to go wrong.

 

[betty swollocks]

Fixed wheel is huge fun to ride. I've been riding one for years, long before the current fad.
People will tell you that you feel more 'connected' to the bike ....and you do, but you have to ride fixed for yourself to find out what this really means.
Riding fixed is simplicity itself: simply get on and pedal. I've yet to find a hill I cannot surmount and descending, your legs whirl like a dervish. You can get to the bottom of a hill feeling puffed, especially when trying to keep up with freewheelers. This doesn't bother me.
And when you've cycled fifty miles, you really have cycled fifty miles.
Dead easy to maintain too.
I have geared bikes also.

 

[srw]

[...]
Riding fixed is simplicity itself: simply get on and pedal
[...]
You can get to the bottom of a hill feeling puffed, especially when trying to keep up with freewheelers. [...]
Dead easy to maintain too.

So it's like a geared bike - you just get on and pedal.
It tires you out more - you can't relax on a downhill.
And it's like a geared bike - it's dead easy to maintain.

Remind me. Why bother?

 

[betty swollocks]

So it's like a geared bike - you just get on and pedal.
It tires you out more - you can't relax on a downhill.
And it's like a geared bike - it's dead easy to maintain.

Remind me. Why bother?

Read my first seven words: ie one of the bits you didn't quote

 

[srw]

Read my first seven words: ie one of the bits you didn't quote

Yup - just like a geared bike!

 

[betty swollocks]

I said My first seven words, not yours.

I'll help:- 'Fixed wheel is huge fun to ride.'

 

[Boris Bajic]

So it's like a geared bike - you just get on and pedal.
It tires you out more - you can't relax on a downhill.
And it's like a geared bike - it's dead easy to maintain.

Remind me. Why bother?

The wonderful thing about all this is that you really don't have to bother.

We who like to ride fixed (always or occasionally) know why we do it. It really is jolly good fun.

I have a (wonderful) brother who occasionally makes a big thing of criticising my taste in music, which I rarely play when he's present. I'm not sure what drives him to do this.

In some quarters there's also a fascination with questioning other people's taste in cars. I'm not sure why people bother.

Ride what you like. Very many people think fixed is barmy. My wife and children (cyclists all) think it is daft.

But... I just love it.

 

[subaqua]

i suppose the best bit is being abke to ride them with the back wheel leading and you sitting on the handlebars. but i stopped doing that at 15, many years ago now! youngests bike has fixed wheel and he seems happier riding like i described above.